Brooklyn: Big in Sweden

Yesterday Grub Street had a story up about how Brooklyn has become a kind of über brand in, of all places, Sweden. Early on the story offers up this observation: “‘Brooklyn is the center of cool for Swedes right now,’ a customer at the speakeasy-ish bar Kåken in Stockholm explained recently over sips of a Park Slope Collins. ‘People here think it’s the best place in the world.'” Yes, someone in Sweden has minted the Park Slope Collins. There is also a Bar Brooklyn and a Brooklyn-themed restaurant as well as a Brooklyn Boys Club cocktail. Swedes, apparently, are enamored with the artisanal, organic, local flavor of Brooklyn culture or at least those elements of the culture that are increasingly associated with the borough’s hipster mascot. Says another: “‘the desire for authenticity and a back-to-the basics attitude caught on in Sweden in particular,’ he says. ‘People started going fishing and making their own sausages. Many people associated these things with Brooklyn, which is an alternative to the luxury of Manhattan.”

Brooklyn Brewery is one business that has seen real monetary gains from this new-found Swedish affection. The beer is available in 21 countries and Sweden is its best market outside of New York and has been almost since the beer was introduced there in 2006. It is building its first overseas brewery in Stockholm. And by September Brooklyn Lager will be sold in all of the country’s state-run liquor stores (pictured above). And it is putting on its second annual “Brooklyn, Sweden” music festival which includes Brooklyn bands, food and art. Perhaps there is some leverage there for a great Brooklyn-Stockholm house swap this summer.